Barrel-making machine.



E. W. ROBINSON.

BARREL MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.12, 1914- Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET l.

BY -HI$ ATTORNEY IANVENTOR EDWARD w. ROBINSON THE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTC-LITHQ. WA'SHINUTON. DY C.

E. W. ROBINSON. BARREL MAKING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JAN.12, 1914.

Patented Jan. 26, 1915 5 $HEETS-SHEET 2,

INVENTOR EDWARD W. ROBINSON WITNESSES BY Hi5 ATTORNEY E. W. ROBINSON.

BARREL MAKING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED $1117.12, 1914.

Patented Jan.26, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

* ilk/1711111111 INVENTOR EDWARD w. ROBINSON BY HIS ATTORNEY WITNESSES MAI-M I'HE NORRIS PETERS CO. FHClTOLlTHO WASHINGTON, D C.

E. W. ROBINSON.

BARREL MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.12, 1914 1,126,285. Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

L m z 1 ma ad WITNESSES INVENTOR a: EDWARD W. ROBINSON BY HIS ATTORNEY 'nE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTO-LITHQ, WASHINGTONv D. c.

E. W. ROBINSON.

BARREL MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 12, 1914.

1,1635, Patented Jan 26, 1915.

5 BHEETSSHEET 5.

INVEN OR EDWARD W.

ROBIN-SON BY Hl-5 ATTORNEY 7H5 NORRIS PETERS Cow, F'HOTC-LITHO., WASHINGTON. l) C.

1 vice; Figs. 12

IINITE STATES PAT T FICE.

EDWARD W. ROBINSON,

OLE SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, ASSIGNOB TO INTERNATIONAL BARREL-MAKING MACHINE.

Specification of'Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 26, 1915.

Application filed January 12, 1914. Serial No. 811,596.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWARD W. ROBIN- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing in Savannah, Georgia, have invented certain Improvements in Barrel-Making Machines, tion.

My invention consists of certain improvements in the barrel-making machine constiof which the following is a specificatuting the subject of Letters Patent No.

1,052,177, granted February 4, 1913, to myself and H. P. Feister, the object of my present invention being to simplify the construction of the machine and perfect the operation of various parts of the same. This object I attain in the manner heremafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine from which, in order to prevent confusion, has been omitted a number of cams and other parts contained between the opposite side frames of the machine; Fig. 2 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in transverse section, on the line aa, F 1g. 1; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section showing parts connectedwith the stave feeding and boring mechanism; Fig. 4 is a side elevation of certain of said parts in a difiierent position from that represented in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 1s a view, partly in elevation and partly 1 n transverse section, and illustrating certain other elements of the stave feeding mechanism; Fig. 6 is a side view of a cam disk constituting one of its elements; Fig. 7 is a View, partly in side elevation and partly 1n long1- tudinal section, of one of the twistlng splndles of the machine; Fig. 8 is a side elevation of certain mechanism employed in connection with said twisting spindle; Fig. 9 is a side elevation of one of the stave driving dogs of the machine, and with mechanism for operating the same; Fig. 10 1s a view, partly in side elevation and partly in section, of the barrel blank clamping and feeding mechanism; Fig. 11 is a side elevation of the mechanism for actuating the supplementary barrel blank clamping deand 13 are sectional views, on an enlarged scale, of the stave mortising devices, and Fig. 14 is a top view of the guide for the wire cutting devices.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, 11 represents the opposite side frames of the machine which are provided with bearings for four shafts 2, 3, 4; and 5. The shaft 2 constitutes the driving shaft of the machine, to which power is applied, and the shafts 3 and 4 are cam shafts, these shafts being geared together by spur wheels and the spur wheel on the shaft 3 meshing with a pinion on the shaft 2, as shown in Fig. 1, in which the pitch lines of said spur wheels and pinion are represented by dotted lines.

The shaft 5 is provided with a worm wheel 6 which meshes with a worm 7 on an inclined shaft 8, the latter being driven by intermeshing bevel wheels 9 and 10 from the shaft 4 and the worm 7 being of the interrupted thread type so that at a certain point in the rotation of the worm it will move the worm wheel 6 to the extent of one tooth and will lock it against movement at all other times.

The parts are so timed that the shafts 3 and 4 will rotate once for each sequence of operations attending the placing of a stave in position in the barrel blank, while the shaft 5 will only rotate once for each sequence of operations attending the fabrication of a complete barrel blank. If, for instance a barrel contains twenty staves and the successive barrel blanks are separated by lengths of twisted wire each containing ten twists the worm wheel 6 will be provided with thirty teeth and will rotate once for every thirty rotations of the shafts 3 and 4:, each of the movements of said worm wheel 6, however, being effected quickly, or during but a fractional part of a rotation of the shafts 3 and 4.

The machine has transverse bilging bridges 11 and 12, as shown in Fig. 2, the lower bridge 11, in the present instance, be ing fixedly mounted on the frame of the machine and the upper bridge 12 being vertically movable and being normally depressed by means of coiled springs 13 interposed between the bridge and pockets 1% on a transverse bar 15 fixed frame of the machine, such bar bein shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2 and by full lines in Fig. 1. The upper bridge 12 is lifted at appropriate intervals by means of cams 16 on the shaft 3, one of these cams being located adjacent to and outwardly beyond each of the side frames 1 and each cam acting upon an anti-friction roller 17 on a bar 18 which is forked at its lower end so as to embrace the shaft 3, as shown in constituting part of the i l Fig. 1, and has at its upper end an eye for the reception of a stud 19 projecting from .one end of the bridge 12 and guided in a vertical slot 20 in the corresponding side frame 1, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The stud 19 also passes through a slot in the inner end of an arm upon a stud 22 on the fixed frame, in Fig. 1.

The successive staves are fed into the machine on a level with the crown of the lower bilging bridge 11 while the upper bilging bridge 12 is raised and the sheds formed by the pairs of wires with which the staves are to be interwoven, are open, the staves entering said sheds before the descent of the upper bilging bridge 12. The insertion of the successive staves into the sheds of wires is effected by a pusher slide 23 which is mounted so as to slide upon a guideway 24 projecting outwardly from one of the side frames of the machine, said slide having a pin 25 which passes through the slotted upper end of one arm of a bell crank lever 26, the latter being pivoted to a yoke 27 projecting from the same side frame as the guideway 24. The other arm of the lever 26 has a pin 28 which is adapted to the slotted upper end of the rod 29 of a piston 30, the latter being adapted to a cylinder 31 to whose lower end air or other fluid under pressure is admitted at intervals and then exhausted therefrom so as to insure the vibration of the bell crank lever 26 and reciprocation of the pusher slide 23 at the proper times, the projection of the slide being effected upon the upward movement of the piston. 30, under the pressure of the fluid behind it, and the retraction of the slide and piston being effected by means of a coiled spring 30 when the cylinder 31 is open to the exhaust.

At one side of the cylinder 31 is a valve chest 32 containing a valve 33 which is reciprocated vertically in the chest 32 so as to open the port 34 of the cylinder 31 alternately to the inlet 35 and exhaust 36 of the valve chest. Reciprocation of the valve 33 at the proper times is effected by a cam disk 37 (Figs. 5 and 6) on the shaft 5, this disk acting through the medium of a lever 38 upon the stem of the valve 33, as shown in Fig. 5.

The staves are piled one above another in a hopper 40 mounted at one side of the guideway 24, as shown in Fig. 3, and are fed one at a time from said hopper onto said guideway by means of a reciprocating feed bar 41, said feed bar, after depositing a stave on the guideway 24, being retracted preparatory to the insertion of said stave between the bilging bridges and into the sheds of wires by the action of the pusher slide 23.

By the use of the hopper 40 and feed bar as shown 21 pivotally mounted 41 I overcome an objection to the previously patented machine, in which the pusher slide 23 acted directly upon the stav'e at the bottom of the hopper. In such machine the presence of a thin stave at the bottom of the pile sometimes permitted the pusher to act also upon the stave next above it and thus either caused .the insertion of the two staves at once or else jammed the machine and resulted in breakage of parts of the same, objections which cannot occur when but one stave at a time is placed in position for the action of the pusher slide 23.

The feed bar 41 is limited in height so as to engage the bottom stave only of the pile and said feed bar is reciprocated by means of a vibrating arm 44 mounted upon a stud or shaft 45 having another arm 46 which is vibrated at intervals by means of a cam 47 on the shaft 3, said cam acting upon an antifriction roller 48 on a bar 49, which is con nected at its upper end to the arm 46 and is forked at its lower end so as to embrace the shaft 3, as shown in Fig. 3.

The vibrating arm 44 has mounted in suitable bearings therein a rod 50, the upper end of which is forked so as to engage a pin 51 on the feed bar 41, said forked upper end of the rod being normally held in engagement with the pin by means of a coiled spring 52 acting upon a collar 53 on the rod, as shown in Fig. 3. The lower end of the rod 50 is provided with a roller- 54 which engages the bent end of an arm 55, mounted upon a shaft 56 adapted to suitable bearings on the frame of the machine, said shaft having another arm 57 which is acted upon at the proper time by means of a cam 58 projecting from a disk 59 on the shaft 5.

During the time that the staves are being fed into the machine the arm 57 is free from the influence of the cam 58, as shown in Fig. 3, and the forked upper end of the rod 50 is in engagement with the pin 51 on the feed bar 41. As soon, however, as the proper number of staves have been fed to the machine the cam 58 acts upon the arm 57, and causes the arm 55 to retract the rod 50 and thus free the pin 51 of the feed bar 41 from engagement with the forked upper end of said rod 50, as shown in Fig. 4, thereby arresting further feed of the staves until the parts are again restored to the position shown in Fig. 3, when the cam 58 moves away from the roller on the arm 57.

The cam 58 is so formed that after it moves the parts from the position shown in Fig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 4, it will retain them in the latter position for such length of time as may be necessary to form the desired number of twists in the wire between successive barrel blanks.

In connection with the stave feeding devices I also employ means for forming inclosed mortises in the forward edge of each stave in accordance with my Letters Patent No. 1,052,17 8, dated February 4, 1913. These mortises are formed by a series of drills 60 whose spindles 61 are mounted in suitable bearings in a frame 62 projecting from the side frame 1 of the machine. The series of drill spindles are geared together by means of spur wheels (33 and each drill enters at its forward end an opening in a bar 64 which is backed by a series of springs 65 so as to be maintained normally in the position shown in Figs. 3 and 13.

The cam 47 which reciprocates the feed bar 41 has, as shown in Fig. 3, a toe 66 in advance of the face 67 which determines the position of the feed bar when the stave has been deposited in the guideway 24 in. position for the action of the pusher slide 23, and this toe 66 causes first an excess forward movement and then a corresponding retraction of the stave before the latter assumes its final position in the guideway. The result of this action is that the bar 64 is depressed slightly, as shown in Fig. 12, thus exposing the forward ends of the drills and causing them to form the desired mortises in the forward edge of the stave, the latter being freed from the drills by the return of the bar 64 when the feed bar 41 is retracted to its normal or stave guiding position. (Figs. 3 and 13.) Rotating movement may be imparted to one of the drill spindles 61 in any desired manner, this movement being transmitted from said driven spindle to the others of the set through the medium of the gear wheels 63, as shown in Fig. 5.

The twisting spindles 70 for the pairs of wires wz0 are mounted in suitable bearings on the fixed frame of the machine and are geared together by means of spur wheels 71 so as to rotate in unison, rotating movement being imparted to the spindles at the proper times by means of a cam 72 on the shaft 3, said cam acting upon an anti-friction roller on one arm of a bell crank lever 73, whose other arm is connected by a rod 74 to an arm 75 mounted so as to be free to swing on a shaft 76, the latter carrying a ratchet wheel 77 and a bevel wheel 78, as shown in Fig. 1. The ratchet wheel 77 is engaged by a pawl 79 on the swinging arm 75 and the bevel wheel 78 meshes with a bevel pinion 80 on one of the twisting spindles 70 so that, on each action of the cam 7 2, rotating movement will be imparted to said spindle and thence through the gears 71 to the other spindles of the set.

Each of the twisting spindles 70 is tubular, as shown in Fig. 7, for the passage of the pair of wires wm and each spindle carries at its forward end a twister head 81 on which is pivotally mounted a pair of for wardly projecting jaws 82, the wires passing through openings 83 in each spindle 7 0,

thence around rollers 84 at the ends of the twister head 81, and thence through open ings at the forward ends of the jaws 82, as shown in Fig. 7.

lVithin each spindle 70 is a rod 85 connected at its forward end to a grooved collar 86 which is free to slide longitudinally on the spindle 70, the rod 85 having at its rear end a flaring head 87 which, when the rod 85 is drawn forward in serves to press the wires m00 against a beveled seat 88 at the rear end of the spindle, and thus impart proper tension to said wires during the twisting operation, the rod 85 being then retracted so as to free the wires from tension at all other times, and thus permit the free passage of the same through the spindles 70 at such times.

Back and forth movement is imparted to the rods 85 of the twisting spindles by means of arms 90 on a rock shaft 91, there being one of these arms for each spindle 70, and said arms 90 being forked to engage the grooved collars 86 on the spindles, as shown in Fig. 1. The rock shaft 91 has another arm 92 which is vibrated at the proper times by means of a cam 93 on the shaft 3, said cam acting upon an anti-friction roller on a bar 94 connected at its upper end to the arm 92 and forked at its lower end so as to embrace the shaft 3, as shown in Fig. 8.

The stave driving dogs 95 are mounted so as to be free to swing upon a rock shaft 96 extending across the machine, and each of said dogs 95 is connected, by an expansible and contractible rod 97, to a bell crank lever 98 mounted so as to be free to swing upon a shaft 99 extending across the machine, proper time by means of a cam 100 on the shaft 3, which cam acts upon an anti-friction roller upon a bar 101 connected at its upper end to one arm of the bell crank lever 98 and forked at its lower end so as to embrace the shaft 3, as shown in Fig. 9.

In the present instance I have shown three driving dogs, one at the center of the stave and the others about midway between the center and ends of the stave, and each i dog is operated independently of the others so that the dogs may act successively upon the stave, the cams 100 being so disposed upon the shaft 3 that one of the end dogs will act upon the stave first and such action will be followed by that of the center dog and then by that of the other end dog, where by each stave, instead of being pushed bodily forward in a straight line, will be advanced first at one end, then at the center, and then at the opposite end, whereby the strain exerted upon the dogs in jamming each successive stave up against the proviously inserted stave is distributed between the three dogs and is exerted upon but one the spindle,

the lever 98 being vibrated at the its dog at a time, instead of being concentrated upon the three dogs at one and the same time, as in the patented machine.

Any desired means may be employed for contracting and expanding the rod 97 which staves connects the driving dog 95 and bell crank lever 98. In the present instance I have shown a divided rod having at one end a right hand thread and at the other end a left hand thread engaged by a right and left hand threaded nut 102 so that by turning the latter in one direction the rod can be expanded while by turning it in the other direction the rod can be contracted in length. The purpose of thus expanding and contracting the rod 97 is to vary the position of the dogs 95 when they complete their forward motion, in order to compensate for the difierent widths of staves which may be employed in the fabrication of the barrel, narrow staves requiring a farther advance of the dogs than wider staves.

The cam 16, which effects movement of the upper bilging bridge 12, is a two throw cam, and in its first descent the bridge 12 does not clamp the stave tightly against the lower bridge 11, thus preventing excessive friction upon the stave during the driving action of the dogs 95. When the stave has been driven, however, the bridge 12 descends farther so as to press the wire w-m tightly against the opposite faces of the stave and hold them in this position during the twisting operation. It will be noted, however, that the pressure upon the stave is at all times a yielding pressure exerted by the springs 13, the positive movements imparted to the bridge 12 being the upward or separating movements, consequently the pressure upon the staves cannot exceed a predetermined amount, and in case some of the are a little thicker than others crushing of said thicker staves is prevented.

As the formation of the barrel blank proceeds, the rearmost stave of the blank is gripped firmly between a pair of clamping jaws 103 and 104 (Fig. 10) which hold the same while the freshly inserted stave is being pushed up against it, then move forward so as to advance the barrel blank to the extent of the width of the stave, then release their grip and are moved rearwardly preparatory to gripping the fresh stave which now constitutes the rearmost stave of the blank. For this purpose the clamping jaws 103 and 104 are mounted so as to be carried back and forth by a pair of arms 105 secured to the rock shaft 96, the jaws 103 and 104 being susceptible of radial movement in respect to said arms so as to open and close the jaws. Such opening and closing movement of the jaws is effected in the following manner: Each of the jaws is, as shown in Fig. 2, curved to correspond with a the bilge of the stave and each of the jaw is mounted upon a rod passing through slots in the arms 105, the rod carrying the upper jaw 103 being represented at 103 and the rod carrying the lower jaw 104 being represented at 104 in Fig. 2. The ends of the rods 103 and 104 project beyond the arms 105, the projecting ends of the lower rod 104 being acted upon by a cam 107 which is mounted so as to be free to swing upon the shaft 96 and is actuated at appropriate intervals by a cam 108 on the shaft 4, said cam acting upon an anti-friction roller carried by a bar 109 which is connected at its upper end to the swinging cam 107 and is forked at its lower end so as to embrace the shaft 4, as shown in Fig. 10. As the cam 107 swings the rod 104'- is caused to move from and to ward the axis of the shaft 96, thereby raising or lowering the lower clamping jaw 104. The rod 104 is connected by a link 110 to one arm of a lever 111 pivotally mounted alongside of the arm 105, the other arm of said lever being connected by a link 112 to the outer rod 103 as shown in Fig. 1, hence, as the lower jaw 104 is raised, the upper jaw 103 will be lowered so as to clamp the stave between the jaws and as the lower jaw 104 is retracted the upper jaw 103 will be likewise retracted, so as to release the stave from the grip of the jaws.

\Vhen the staves are being fed into the machine the swinging movement of the arms 105 and their aws 103 and 104 must be equal in extent to the width of the stave, but after the full complement of staves has been interlocked with the wires the following movements of the arms 105 are for a time much shorter, each movement being only equal to the length of one twist in the pairs of wires which intervene between successive barrel blanks. The arms 105 must therefore have at one time a much longer swing than at another and in order to effect this result 1 adopt the means shown in Figs. 1 and 2, on reference to which it will be noted that the shaft 96 has mounted so as to swing upon it two arms 113 and 114, the arm 113 being connected by means of a rod 115 to the strap 116 of an eccentric 117 on the shaft 4, and the arm 114 being connected by a rod 118 to the strap 119 of an eccentric 120 on said shaft 4, the throws of the eccentrics 117 and 120 bearing the same relation to each other as the long and short swings which have to be imparted to the arms 105.

The hub of the arm113 has upon it an outwardly extending clutch face 121 and the hub of the arm 114 has upon it an inwardly extending clutch face 122, and mounted upon the shaft 96 between these clutch faces is a duplex sliding clutch collar 123 splined upon the shaft 96 so as to turn therewith and engaged by the forked upper arm of a lever 124 whose lower arm engages a cam slot 125 in a disk 126- secured to or forming part of the worm wheel 6, as shown in Fig. 2.

During the time that the staves are being fed into the machine the clutch collar 123 is in engagement with the long throw arm 113 but when the proper number of staves have been fed into the machine and interwoven with the wires, and further supply of staves is temporarily arrested, the clutch is shifted by means of the cam slot 125 and lever 124 so as to engage with the shortthrow lever 114 and continues thus in engagement until the desired number of twists have been imparted to the wires intervening between the successive barrel blanks, whereupon the clutch is again shifted into engagement with the long-throw lever 113 and remains in such engagement during the feed of the staves for another barrel blank.

Simultaneously with the shifting of the clutch from the long-throw lever to the short-throw lever the cam 58 acts upon the arm 57 so as to withdraw the forked end of the rod 50 from engagement with the pin 51 of the feed arm 41 and thus arrests the delivery of staves from the hopper 40, the cam 58 releasing the arm 57, so as to permit the feeding of the staves to be resumed, when the clutch collar 123 is shifted from engagement with the short-throw arm 114 into engagement with the long-throw arm 113.

In connection with the swinging clamping jaws 103 and 104 which move the barrel blank forward by a stepby-step movement, I employ a pair of clamping jaws 126 and 127 for gripping the blank after it has completed each step of its forward travel and retaining the same during the backward swing of the jaws 103 and 104. The jaw 126 is fixedly mounted on the frame of the machine but the jaw 127 is carried by a swinging arm 128 mounted on a shaft 129 which has another arm 130 actuated by a cam 131 on the shaft 4, this cam acting upon a suitable friction roller on a bar 132 connected at its upper end to the arm 130, and slotted at its lower end so as to embrace the shaft, as shown in Fig. 11.

As soon as the jaws 103 and 104 have completed their forward swing the jaws 126 and 12? close upon the barrel blank and continue to grip the same until the jaws 103 and 104 have completed their return movement and have been closed upon the rearmost stave, whereupon the jaws 126 and 127 are opened so as not to interfere with the forward movement of the barrel blank on the next forward swing of the jaws 103 and 104. In order to effect the severing of the lengths of twisted wire which intervene between successive barrel blanks I employ a pair of shear blades 133 and 134, shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, the shear blade 133 being fixedly mounted in a guide bar 135 and the blade 134 being mounted so as to slide in said guide bar from and toward the fixed blade 133. Sliding movement is imparted to the blade 134 at the proper time by means of an arm 136 on the shaft 5, said arm having a cam-shaped end 137 which acts upon a roller 138' on an arm 139 secured to a shaft 140 mounted in suitable fixed bearings on the frame of the machine, and having curved arms 141 slotted at their upper ends for the reception of a head 142 on the sliding blade 134.

VVhen the center of the twisted pairs of wires connecting the successive barrel blanks reaches a position in line with the shear blades 133 and 134 the arm 139 is actuated by the cam-shaped end of the arm 136 and the blade 134 is moved toward the blade 133 so as to sever said twisted wires.

As the location of the center of the twist ed wires in respect to the shear blades depends upon the width of the staves which are being used in the manufacture of the barrel, it becomes necessary to shift the position of the shear blades to accord with such width of the staves and for this reason the bar 135 carrying the shear blades is movable up and down upon the frame of the machine, being secured in position after adjustment by means of suitable bolts 143 passing through slots in flanges at the ends of the guide. (See Figs. 1 and 14.)

I claim:

1. The combination, in a barrel-making machine, of means for supplying and twisting pairs of wires, means for inserting staves between said pairs of wires while said staves are straight, and bilging bridges movable from and toward one another for bilging said staves after they have been inserted between the pairs of wires.

2. The combination, in a barrel-making machine, of means for supplying and twisting pairs of wires, means for inserting staves between said pairs of wires while said staves are straight, and bilging bridges movable from and toward one another for bilging said staves after they have been inserted between the pairs of wires, the movement of the bilging bridges toward one another being a two-stage movement.

3. The combination, in a barrel-making machine, of means for supplying and twisting pairs of wires, means for inserting staves between said wires while said staves are straight, bilging bridges movable toward and from one another to bilge the staves after they have been inserted between the wires, springs for efl'ecting the movement of the bilging bridges toward each other, and means for separating said bridges.

4. The combination, in a barrel-making machine, of means for supplying and twist ing pairs of wires, means for introducing staves between said pairs of wires, driving dogs for moving said staves forwardly in a direction transverse to their length, and means for operating said driving dogs in succession progressively from one end of a stave to the other.

5. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying and twisting pairs of wires, means for feeding staves between said pairs of wires, driving dogs for moving said staves in a direction transverse to their length, and means for operating said driving dogs, said means including adjustable devices whereby the forward terminal position of the dogs can be varied.

6. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying and twisting pairs of wires, a stave driving device for inserting the staves between said wlres, a stave feed hopper, and means separate from the stave driving device for delivering one stave at a time from said hopper into the path of said stave driving device.

7. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying and twisting pairs of wires, a device for driving staves between said pairs of wires, -means actuated by fluid under pressure for imparting movement to said stave driving device, a valve for controlling the admission of said fluid to and its exhaust from said actuating means, and cam mechanism for controlling the movements of said valve.

8. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying and twisting pairs of wires, a stave driver for inserting staves between said wires, a stave hopper, and means for delivering the staves one at a time from said hopper into the path of said driving device, said means comprising a clutch and means for engaging and disengaging the same, whereby the delivery of staves can be arrested when desired.

9. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying and twisting pairs of wires, a stave driver for inserting staves in the direction of their length between said wires, a stave hopper, and means for delivering the staves one at a time from said hopper into the path of said driving device, said means comprising a stavefeeding bar, a vibrating arm, a clutch movable longitudinally on said arm and adapted to engage or disengage said feed bar, and cam-actuated means for withdrawing said clutch from engaging position.

10. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying and twisting pairs of wires, means for inserting staves between said wires, a series of drills, and means for causing said drills to first form mortises in the forward edge of a stave and then to be withdrawn therefrom before the stave is fed between the wires.

11. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying and twisting pairs of wires, means for inserting staves between said wires, a feed hopper, means for delivering the staves one at a time from said hopper into the path of the stave inserting device, a series of drills, a yielding bar for sheathing said drills, and means whereby said bar is moved by the stave so as to first unsheath and then resheath the ends of the drills.

12. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying and twisting pairs of wires, means for inserting staves between said wires, and means for imparting tension to the wires during the twisting operation and freeing said wires from tension at other times.

13. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying pairs of wires, hollow twisting spindles through each of which passes a pair of said wires, a presser between which and the spindle a pair of wires passes, and means for operating said presser so as to impart pressure to the wires during the rotation of the spindles and release said wires from pressure while the spindles are not rotatin 14. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying pairs of wires, means for inserting staves between said pairs of wires, twister spindles each having at its forward end a head with forwardly projecting and loosely swinging aws pivoted thereto and engaging the wires only at points forward of said pivots, and means for rotating said spindles.

15. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying pairs of wires, means for inserting staves between said pairs of wires, hollow twister spindles each having at its forward end a head with forwardly projecting and loosely swinging aws pivoted thereto, and means for feeding each pair of wires first part way through the hollow spindle then to the outside of the same, and over the ends of the twister head, and thence through the projecting jaws forward of their pivots.

16. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying pairs of wires, means for inserting staves between said pairs of wires, means for twisting the pairs of wires after each such insertion, means for clamping the stave preceding that last introduced, means for driving the last introduced stave up against the previously introduced stave, and means for swinging said clamping jaws so as to carry the barrel blank forward after each fresh stave is introduced.

17 The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying pairs of wires, means for inserting staves between said pairs of wires, means for twisting the pairs of wires after, each such stave insertion, and means for clamping the stave preceding that last introduced, said means comprising a cam for operating one of the jaws, a lever located between the aws, a link connecting one arm of said lever to the camactuated jaw, and another link connecting the other arm of said lever to the other jaw.

18. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying pairs of wires, means for inserting staves between said pairs of wires, means for twisting the wires after each such insertion, a pair of jaws for clamping the stave preceding that last introduced, means for driving the last introduced stave up against said previously introduced stave, means for swinging said jaws so as to carry the barrel blank forward after each stave insertion, and supplementary jaws for clamping and holding the barrel blank during the rearward swing of the said first mentioned jaws.

19. The combination, in a bar *el making machine, of means for supplying pairs of wires, means for inserting staves in succession between said pairs of wires, means for twisting together the wires of each pair after each stave insertion, means for arresting the feed of staves at intervals while still continuing the twisting of the wires, means for clamping the barrel blank and feeding it forward step by step, independent means for imparting long and short throw to said feeding devices, and means for rendering operative first the long throw mechanism and then the short throw mechanism.

20. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying pairs of wires, means for inserting staves in succession between said pairs of wires, means for twisting together the wires of each pair after each stave insertion, means for arresting the feed of staves at intervals while still continuing the twisting of the wires, means for clamping the barrel blank and feeding it forward step by step, long and short throw mechanism for imparting movement to said feeding devices, and a clutch for connecting first the long throw mechanism and then the short throw mechanism to said feeding devices.

21. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying pairs of wires, means for inserting staves in succession between said pairs of wires, means for twisting together the wires of each pair after each stave insertion, means for arresting the feed of staves at intervals while still continuing the twisting of the wires, means for clamping the barrel blank and feeding it forward step by step, long and short throw mechanism for imparting movement to said feeding devices, a clutch for connecting first the long throw mechanism and then the short throw mechanism to said feeding devices, a disk having one complete movement for each complete sequence of operations attending the production of the barrel blank, and a clutch shifting device operated by said disk.

22. The combination, in a barrel making machine, of means for supplying pairs of wires, means for inserting staves in succession between said pairs of wires, means for twisting together the wires of each pair after each stave insertion, means for arresting the stave feed at intervals while still continuing the twisting of the wires, means for feeding forward the barrel blank, cutting knives for severing the lengths of twisted wires between successive barrel blanks, and means for adjusting said knives so as to compensate for the different widths of staves employed.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

C. B. STILLWELL, J. A. COURVAISIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

